[Cindi LeRoy]

LESSON 4 – Rom-Com ASSIGNMENT
Cindi’s 7 Stages of Love
What I learned doing this assignment is to make the love relationship believable it’s best to follow the 7 stages of love.
1. Create the 7 Stages of Love for your two lead characters.
The 7 Stages of Love:
1. Meet -cute: A scene in the Townhall meeting where he defends the importance of saving history and the old mansion. They meet in the hallway. She thanks him for the support. They have coffee at a café across the street, chat and get to know each other.
2. Attractions/flirting: They talk, there is attraction and flirting over coffee.
3. Denial: They each think maybe they could be together as a couple since they share an interest in this mansion. then they each think, no… it’s just a chance encounter.
4. Separation/forced together: They talk on and off; meet for coffee on and off. They have the mansion as a common factor. She takes him on a tour of the mansion. They find some interesting items and costumes in the attic, they try on some of the costumes, and role-play, which adds to the attraction.
5. Working through differences and issues: They try to do a few minor fix ups, which ends in a disaster. There aren’t enough funds to fix up the house. They have to figure out where to get some funds. Where to get some good workers. She wants professional things done the right way, but there’s no funds to hire people. He wants to use volunteers, but they’ve tried that and it’s a disaster.
6. Hate/betrayal/all Hope is lost: They’ve been arguing over what to do about this mansion. He is so committed because history is his passion. She drives by and sees him walking around the yard with a woman/a grant donor. She thinks he’s working with the mayor to try to demolish the building. She gets out of the car and yells at the couple to leave the yard and get off her property. She doesn’t want people nosing around.
7. Love happens: He waits outside for her after work. She is surprised. He says he really needs to talk to her about something important. They go to a coffee café to talk. He tells her the woman was a grant donor .He brings out the papers to show that a grant was approved to fix up the mansion. She’s so happy she cries, he comforts her. Maybe they plan their wedding at the mansion.

[Cindi LeRoy]

What I learned during the assignment is don’t worry about being perfect, just fill in the blanks.

Cindi’s Bigger Story

The bigger story: what major conflict could be happening?

Concept: she inherits an old mansion/house from her aunt and has to fix it up before the city condemns it and bulldoze it down.

Conflict: she doesn’t have the funds.

(set up and see the old ways)
Opening:
She stops by a nursing home to visit her aunt on the way to work. The Aunt gives her a document showing that she deeded her old mansion/house, to the girl but it needs repair. The Aunt describes it’s historical significance and not to let anything ever happen to that house.

Opening: he is teaching history to a bunch of hostile highschoolers who really don’t care and aren’t listening are fooling around.

Opening:She is gets to work via morning obstacle/traffic at a stressed out corporate job. A never ending stream of People stop by her desk and keep plopping files on her desk. It’s work that needs to get done. she’s frazzled.

Inciting incident: she is at the courthouse in a Townhall meeting where the neighbors are griping and shouting about the old mansion being rundown, cuz it’s an eyesore. The Judge says he has to condemn it and knock it down by a certain date.
A male from the back row shouts “you can’t destroy history! “

Turning point:
He and she meet in the hallway of the courthouse after the meeting. she thanks him for speaking up. they brainstorm trying to figure out how to raise money to save the house/mansion. go to Café for coffee.

New Plan/Reaction: he brings in the high school kids as a project to help fix up the house/mansion. It’s a disorganized mess. Things get broken even more tools are lost broken.

Plan in action/The plan: use volunteers. This doesn’t work either. most of the volunteers are arthritic elderly people w/canes & walkers. they can’t do a good job ,everything‘s done wrong. It’s a mess.

Turning point 2: Midpoint:
There have been so many complaints about the noise and the commotion going on. the mayor stops over with a document telling them they have 30 days to clean it up or it will be bulldozed down.

Rethink:
They both go to that coffee café again and brainstorm ideas. They go back to the mansion. walk-through it make a list of all the things that need to be done ASAP to prevent the house from being demolished.

New plan:
They write up applications for grants from the historical society and her corporation and his department of education. She talks the corporation into giving her some money as it would benefit the corporation as being a write off to charity. She has new Hope.

Turning point: Huge failure/Major shift:
They call the first building contractor to fix the most important issue, which uses up most of the money and they don’t have any more left. (Plumbing/needs new pipes/new roof/new flooring)

Climax: Ultimate expression of Conflict: a group of neighbors and the mayor show up to gripe and say that since the house has not been fixed up, it has to get condemned/demolished. Gives her the document stating this.

She sits on the porch steps, holding the documents and crying in despair.

Resolution:
He comes running up the sidewalk, happy and excited. He picks her up and dances all over the yard and is excited. she’s hysterically crying and doesn’t know what to do.

He waves papers around announces he just got an answer from the educational grant giving him a large sum of money from the “Preserve History program” /historical educational department.

They celebrate by going out for a fancy dinner, even though he’s a sloppy eater & spills things and food dribbles office chin. She dabs at his chin. They kiss

[Cindi LeRoy]

Lesson 2: key decisions for characters
Cindi’s Rom-Com project

What I learned doing this assignment is it’s important to make your characters likeable so the audience bonds with them.

Who is he?
He likes to fix things. He’s a handyman. He is a junior high history teacher; teaches shop classes .He likes historical things.
He’s helpful and likes to put his skills to use.
Maybe he used to see her when he was a teenager. He lived in the neighborhood and did yardwork for the Great Aunt. He occasionally saw her hanging around the house and thought she was cute.

Who is she?
She’s interested in history.
She has a corporate job.
She thinks she’s artistic. She sees an image in a magazine and thinks she can re-create it, but it never looks quite right.
Maybe she vaguely remembers a couple times seeing him as a teenager doing yardwork and thought he was cute. But she lived in a different neighborhood and only visited the Aunt occasionally and didn’t remember him. She likes security, she likes adventure. She has family values.

Why is she attracted to him?
They share an interest in history.
He’s laid-back and fun.
He’s attractive and respectful.
He’s flirty. He’s a different kind of guy than what she ever met. She deals with serious businessman all day. He’s more relaxed and fun. She’s impressed that he’s so dedicated to/ & motivates his school students. Maybe he brings the kids over to the mansion to complete a project or to do a painting job. She’s impressed by this. Plus, it’s free help.

Why is he attracted to her?
She’s attractive and smart.
She’s a go-getter.
She’s funny/ witty comments to him. He’s curious about her.
She’s resourceful. She has a plan to bring some volunteers/from the historical society to help fix up the house/mansion.

They find interesting historical costumes in the attic. They dress up and act in that time period serving tea or a luncheon. Make polite but innuendo type conversation in what might be used during that time. Maybe the 1830s.

What Makes her lovable? – she has a witty personality; and she can give it and take it. She has this mansion that’s in rough shape so she can’t sell it. She doesn’t have the funds to fix it up. She’d like to keep it since it’s been in the family for years.

What attracts her to him? He seems generally interested in helping her; has a positive/Let’s do it attitude.

Conflict and growth: she’s kind of a free spirit and acts spontaneously without thinking it through. He gets stuck, bringing her ideas into reality and fixing up some of her messes. He’s more logical.
They each leave things laying around and they each stumble and fall and have accidents and blame it on the other with banter.

What each needs from the other: they see each other as ‘safe’ for a potential long-term relationship that they both need/want.

They are both committed to saving the mansion.

[Cindi LeRoy]

LESSON 1
Cindi’s Rom Com Project
What I learned doing this assignment is that it’s OK to write my first ideas knowing that these ideas will change several times before the project is finished.

The romcom idea:

When A woman inherits a dilapidated mansion from her great aunt, she travels to the small town to check it out. It’s in bad shape and the mayor along with the neighbors, want to demolish it because it’s an eyesore among the other quaint shops on Main Street. At an argumentative Townhall meeting, a history buff with an interest in architecture, introduces himself to the woman.
Can they work together to save the mansion? Will it be their passion project? Or will it lead to a passionate relationship?

1. Conventions of the story: The experience of falling in love – They clean out the attic/closet and find interesting, embarrassing things to laugh about. They insult /mock each other as they do yardwork. Mistakes end in disasters. Bantering and sarcastic insults. Innuendos.
2. Journey of love: He teaches her how to use landscaping equipment. She practically kills him by her mistakes. They go for lunch dates. He always spills something/ has food on his face.
3. Relationship set up: During a bad storm they spend overnight in the mansion. The city inspector comes to check on the building and sees them through the window doing weird yoga positions together.
4. Issues each other must resolve: they both have jobs in a bigger nearby city. They don’t like small town gossip /nosy neighbors
5. Separation: Lot’s of legal conflict with the Mayor. They don’t want to quit their successful jobs in the big cities. Maybe try to turn the mansion into a B&B or a museum

How comedy will be expressed?
Situational comedy – silly usage of landscaping tools.
Witty dialogue – Making fun of each other. She’s a klutzy yard worker, he’s constantly spilling stuff at the restaurants.
Running gags – Reoccurring jokes referencing stupid stuff they did that builds on more comic events.
Visual humor – showing facial expressions, showing them doing stupid things as they work on the mansion.
Farewell fiesta: maybe they have a rummage sale to get rid of the weird stuff they find in the attic. They each have to deal with a crisis at their job in the city and have to be apart from each other for 3 weeks.
They each realize they miss their time together working on the old house, even the neighbors miss spying on them.
Comedy expression: They apply for grants to fix up the place since it’s a historical building. They hire an inspector, there are conditions to receive grants. If things are too broken down, they try to fix it in a strange way, or if things aren’t broken enough, they try to break it even more. (maybe to get a bigger grant there has to be more damage so they’re forced to break a window or whatever.)
Visual humor for emphasis: exaggerated facial expressions as they deal with each other and their weird quirks. Sometimes it seems like they’re busting the place up more, sometimes it seems like they’re fixing it up more. They use makeshift tools, like a serving knife or serving forks to tighten screws. Etc.

[Cindi LeRoy]

ROM-COM class
1. Cindi LeRoy
2. “I agree to the terms of this release form.”
3. entire text below to confirm what you agree to.
Confidentiality Agreement
Hi everyone,
As we go forward with the class, we need everyone here to acknowledge their agreement to the Group Confidentiality form. The purpose here is to protect yourself, each other and to make this a safe environment where you’ll be able to work on the most marketable concept you have without worry.
The release form does all of those things and it also makes whatever we work on in this class confidential. Once everyone has acknowledged their agreement on the forums, we’ll have a safe environment where we can all focus on our writing, instead of worrying about protection.

GROUP RELEASE FORM
As a member of this group, I agree to the following:
1. That I will keep the processes, strategies, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class confidential, and that I will NOT share any of this program either privately, with a group, posting online, writing articles, through video or computer programming, or in any other way that would make those processes, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class available to anyone who is not a member of this class.
2. That each writer’s work here is copyrighted and that writer is the sole owner of that work. That includes this program which is copyrighted by Hal Croasmun. I acknowledge that submission of an idea to this group constitutes a claim of and the recognition of ownership of that idea.
I will keep the other writer’s ideas and writing confidential and will not share this information with anyone without the express written permission of the writer/owner. I will not market or even discuss this information with anyone outside this group.
3. I also understand that many stories and ideas are similar and/or have common themes and from time to time, two or more people can independently and simultaneously generate the same concept or movie idea.
4. If I have an idea that is the same as or very similar to another group member’s idea, I’ll immediately contact Hal and present proof that I had this idea prior to the beginning of the class. If Hal deems them to be the same idea or close enough to cause harm to either party, he’ll request both parties to present another concept for the class.
5. If you don’t present proof to Hal that you have the same idea as another person, you agree that all ideas presented to this group are the sole ownership of the person who presented them and you will not write or market another group member’s ideas.
6. Finally, I agree not to bring suit against anyone in this group for any reason, unless they use a substantial portion of my copyrighted work in a manner that is public and/or that prevents me from marketing my script by shopping it to production companies, agents, managers, actors, networks, studios or any other entertainment industry organizations or people.
This completes the Group Release Form for the class.

[Cindi LeRoy]

Lesson 9

Cindi’s Budget

What I learned doing this assignment is: Once the script is written it’s easy to change the budget requirements by using the variables listed in this lesson.

Ways to decrease the budget:

1. Have everything happen in one room instead of going through the hallways (like the movie SAW)

2. Instead of an old psych hospital, use an old vacant building that nobody currently uses.

3. Keep the script at 90 pages.

4. Instead of at night, this situation could take place in the afternoon.

Ways to increase the budget:

1. The scenes could take place in several different rooms of the building.

2. There could be several locations used.

3. I could increase the number of characters.

4. I could have the psycho janitor create a fire.

5. I could have somebody fight with the psycho janitor, or even with the female main character.

6. I could add special current background music.

7. I could add a bad lightning/thunderstorm.

8. I could add a night scene/chase scene, where the main character can’t see in the dark.

9. I could have a police helicopter land on the roof of the building.

[Cindi LeRoy]

Lesson 8

Cindi Writes Great Hope/Fear!

What I learned doing this assignment: Use the HOPE/FEAR process to create an emotional roller coaster for the audience.

Concept: A nurse working the night shift of a psych hospital must trust a serial killer, psycho janitor to take her through a secret escape route in the creepy hospital basement when the power goes out causing noxious fumes to spew from the vents.

Main conflict: the psycho janitor is a serial killer who plays mind games and tries to persuade the nurse to come with him into the secret hallways and rooms of an old hospital.

Reason for Containment: The nurse works the night shift of a psych hospital.

Characters:

The nurse. She’s there for her job.

The psycho janitor. He’s there for his job. He has the keys and knows the escape route out of the hospital.

Transformational Journey: The nurse and the psycho janitor discover they have some things in common. They must team up together to survive.

Act 1:

HOPE- A nurse works the overnight shift at the nurse’s station at a psych hospital.

FEAR/LEFT ALONE- She hears noises and gets jittery. She looks out the window. It’s getting windy and stormy, branches and stuff hitting the window.

HOPE- No big deal just a little storm. Besides, there’s probably other people working on her floor.

HOPE – She phones the other nurse station to check who’s there. She gets voicemails, so she assumes she’s alone.

FEAR/MIND GAMES- She realizes she’s not alone when someone tosses a crumbled paper on her desk. She looks around. Nobody’s there, then a series of other things happen. It gives her the creeps.

HOPE – She walks around, checks some of the rooms, hallways, nobody’s around.

FEAR/THREAT- Then she turns around and comes face-to-face with the psycho janitor who scares her, then laughs manically.

Act 1 /Turning Point: FEAR/HELPLESS – Who is this guy? She needs to get out of here.

Act 2:

HOPE- At least she’s not totally alone. There’s another human in the building.

FEAR/THREAT- She sees his name badge and looks him up in the files. She discovers he’s a serial killer/a patient given a menial job/part of a rehab program.

HOPE- She tries to gain his trust by making friendly, small talk. while she figures out a plan on how she can get away.

FEAR/PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES- She tries to talk to him, but he becomes defensive, paranoid and has explosive anger outbursts.

HOPE- Maybe she can drug him or somehow steal his keys and get herself out of there.

ACT 2/Turning Point /MIDPOINT: FEAR/OUT OF CONTROL SITATION – She’s desperate to come up with a plan get herself out of there.

Act 3:

FEAR/TRAPPED- The lights go out for a minute. Then when the dim backup generator lights come on, psycho janitor is leaning on the counter at the nurse station laughing manically.

HOPE- She decides she’ll just leave, quit the job and go home. She walks over to a door, but it’s locked.

Everything’s been automatically locked due to the power outage. Now she’s locked inside the nurse station with the psycho janitor. She sits at the desk trying to look busy, but really trying to figure out a plan to get away.

FEAR/FORCED TO DEAL WITH EACH OTHER- The janitor stares at her while he toys with his pocket knife, which he’s not even supposed to have.

HOPE- She pretends she doesn’t notice. She makes herself look busy working at the nurse’s station. She struggles to open a box of supplies.

Turning Point/all is lost:

FEAR/UNPREDICTABLE/COULD ATTACK AT ANY MOMENT- janitor sees her struggle opening the box. He comes over with his knife and stabs wildly and crazily at the box. The box and its contents are totally destroyed in his rage.

Act 4:

FEAR/DEATH- Something happened with the vents due to the power outage. Noxious fumes pour through the vents which cause them to choke and cough. They both need to get out of there.

FEAR/TICKING CLOCK- With his explosive anger outbursts, the psycho janitor tries to persuade the nurse to follow him through the secret hallways of the basement psych hospital to escape the fumes.

HOPE- The nurse has no other options. If she wants to survive, she can’t stay at the nurse station with the fumes.

HOPE- Together they run through secret, dark, winding hallways of the hospital basement. The air gets clearer. They open a door.

FEAR/IMPENDING DOOM – They enter a room that turns out to be a lab. The Director of the hospital is in the process of doing illegal experiments on the patients. The nurse and janitor turn and run. (Maybe she sees her name on a flip chart and realizes she was supposed to be the next experiment.)

HOPE- The nurse and the janitor run fast through another winding hallway.

FEAR/ATTACK- The hospital Director runs after them shooting.

HOPE- The nurse and janitor dodge bullets as they zigzag through the winding hallway. They come to a door, push it open and run outside onto the parking lot.

HOPE- The police and authorities are on the parking lot ready to arrest the hospital Director for performing illegal procedures at the hospital.

HOPE- It’s revealed that the nurse and the janitor are both working undercover with FBI to catch the hospital Director, who is performing illegal experiments/procedures on patients. The nurse and the janitor didn’t know that each other was working undercover.

[Cindi LeRoy]

Lesson 7

Cindi’s 4 act structure outline

What I learned doing this assignment: creating an outline is the best way to make sure the structure is correct.

Concept: a nurse on the night shift of a psycho hospital discovers she’s not alone in the building when the power goes out and she is automatically locked in a room with a psycho janitor who she must trust to take them through the creepy basement to a secret escape route.

Main conflict: the psycho janitor is a serial killer who tries to persuade the nurse to come with him into the secret hallways and rooms of an old hospital.

Act 1:

Opening: A nurse agrees to work the overnight shift at the nurses station at a psych hospital.

Inciting incident: The nurse realizes she’s not alone. Someone in the shadows is messing with her head by throwing papers on her desk, moving things when she’s not looking, etc.

Turning point: The nurse peeks around in some of the hallways and runs face-to-face with the psycho janitor.

Act 2:

New plan: The nurse sees the psycho janitor’s name on his work badge. She nonchalantly looks him up in the files. and discovers he is a serial killer. To gain his trust, she tries to remain calm and tries to strike up friendly small talk with the psycho janitor.

Plan in action: The nurse tries to figure out a way to get away from him. She could steal his keys or drug him. He is unpredictable, paranoid, defensive and has an explosive temper. He’s difficult to communicate with.

Midpoint Turning point: The lights suddenly go out. (possibly he messed with the system.) Dim backup generator lights come on.

Act 3:

Rethink everything: She walks around and discovers since the power went out, the doors automatically lock from the inside so she can’t get out of the nurse station area.

New plan: Psycho janitor toys with a knife. (maybe by mistake he jabs the knife into something that makes noxious fumes poor through the vents.)

Turning point – huge failure: Psycho janitor sees her struggle to open a box/package. He offers to help open it and stabs wildly at the box with his knife.

Act 4:

Final plan: The noxious fumes cause them to choke and gag. It’s important that they both get out of the building. The psycho janitor with his explosive temper, tries to persuade the nurse to come with him to escape through the secret inner passages of this building. He has the keys to get through the doors. He won’t give the keys up they are attached to his belt. He knows how to get around the building since he’s the janitor. The scared nurse has no choice but to go with him.

Climax/ultimate expression of conflict: He takes her through the dark winding hallways of the hospital basement. They enter a room that turns out to be a lab where the director of the hospital is doing illegal experiments on the patients. There are several patients who are in different stages of an experimental project.

Resolution: The nurse and the psycho janitor run off through another winding hallway and out a door that leads to the back parking lot. The Director shoots at them as they run.

The nurse and psycho janitor run out into the parking lot, and meet police and authorities ready to arrest the Director for performing illegal procedures at the hospital.

Reveal/Twist: Both the nurse and the psycho janitor are working undercover with authorities/FBI to catch the Director, who they suspected of doing illegal procedures on patients.

The nurse and the psycho janitor did not know that each other was working undercover.

[Cindi LeRoy]

Lesson 6 – Cindi’s Delivering Multiple Layers!

What I learned doing this assignment: using layers is a great process to use to show something that appears a certain way, but under the surface it can have a whole different meaning.

ASSIGNMENT

1. Brainstorm potential plot layers.

Major scheme revealed: Pysch hosp director bribes patients so he can do
experiments on them.

2. Brainstorm potential character layers.

NURSE – Secret identity: She’s an undercover investigator to reveal a shady scheme going on at the psych hosp. (maybe too many ‘missing’ patients)

2. Brainstorm potential character layers.

PSYCHO JANITOR – Hidden Character history: He’s a serial killer.

3. Brainstorm potential location layers.

Hidden operation: Some patients are allowed to ‘work’ in the hospital. They
believe they are in a legit on-the-job training program. But the program is
fake, the patients are part of an experiment.

4. Tell us about the layers you’ve chosen. Use this format with each of them:

NURSE:

Surface Layer: She’s the nurse on the overnight shift at the psych hospital. <div>

Beneath That: She’s
an undercover investigator.

How Revealed: Toward the end when she has
enough info, she calls in authorities to arrest the hospital director.

PSYCHO JANITOR

Surface Layer: He’s a janitor on the overnight shift at the psych
hospital. </div><div>

Beneath That: He’s a serial killer. Instead of going to prison, he
was admitted to this psych hospital.

How Revealed: The nurse discovers his records by searching through
files.

PSYCH HOSPITAL

Surface Layer: Psych hospital. </div>

Beneath That: Patient Experimental Station.

How Revealed: Undercover nurse finds a hidden room/lab with
incriminating evidence/info.

[Cindi LeRoy]

Lesson 5 – Cindi’s Character Journeys!

What I learned doing this assignment: turning points cause the character to experience change and raises the stakes.

For each of your main characters, create a 3-Act Structure of their journey.

1. NURSE

Beginning: Her first day on the job, working alone on the overnight shift at a run down psych hospital at the edge of a desolate town. It’s strange, there’s no one around. Outside there is a storm brewing.

Turning Point: The storm gets worse, the power goes out. She walks through the corridors and tries the door handles, they are all locked. She is locked inside the building. The backup generator comes on but the lights are dim. She turns to get back to the nurses station and bumps into the psycho janitor.

Midpoint: She has a difficult time trying to communicate with the psycho janitor because he is paranoid and has explosive anger outbursts. She needs to get his keys to unlock the doors and escape from the building.

Turning Point 2: She sits at the nurses station trying to look busy but watches as the psycho janitor keeps an eye on her. She is struggling to open a wrapped up/ taped up box of supplies. The psycho janitor approaches her, flicks open a switchblade knife slashes and stabs at the box to open the box.

Dilemma: She needs to get the janitor’s keys. Should she figure out a way to drug him? Or should she bribe him?

3rd Act Climax: The storm made something in the building/maybe electrical wires, short out and burn. This sends noxious fumes coming through the vents. She desperately needs to escape from the building. The psycho janitor tries to persuade her to follow him through the building because he knows a secret way to get out.

Ending: Reluctantly, she goes with the psycho janitor, but first she secretly makes a call to the police/authorities describing her situation. The phone reception is bad and she doesn’t know for sure if her call went through.

2. PSYCHO JANITOR

Beginning: The janitor makes himself a sandwich in his makeshift living quarters in the psych hospital storage room. Then he takes his ring of keys and his electronic security badge and goes into the hallway to start his janitor duties on the overnight shift.

Turning Point: He thinks he’s alone in this wing of the hospital, but he runs into the nurse. He doesn’t like or trust nurses because they ‘hurt’ him with needles.

Midpoint: He uses his knife to fix something near the nurses station. He likes the quiet atmosphere of the hospital at night but the nurse keeps talking to him/asking questions. That annoys him, he can’t control his anger and rages at her to be quiet.

Turning Point 2: The noxious fumes come through the vents. (Maybe he somehow caused this)

Dilemma: They both need to get out due to the fumes. He doesn’t want the nosey nurse asking too many questions, but he can get them both out of the building. He doesn’t trust her.

3rd Act Climax: ???

Ending: The hospital director shows up. Maybe psycho janitor has a shady deal with him.

[Cindi LeRoy]

Lesson 4 – Cindi’s Character Depth!

What I learned doing this assignment: discovering what’s beneath the surface of a character engages the audience.

With each of your characters, go through all of these questions to see which might fit for your story.

Internal Character Depth

1. Nurse:

Secret: She wants to get the keys away from the psycho janitor. <div>

Subtext: She’s scared of the psycho janitor because he’s unpredictable
and acts crazy.
Layers: She considers drugging the janitor or maybe she will bribe
him with drugs.

Character to character

Hidden Agenda: She’s locked inside the building with a psycho janitor
and wants to escape without him.

Character Situation

Dilemma: She needs to talk with the psycho janitor, but she can’t
interact with him without upsetting him. He gets defensive, angry and acts
crazy because he’s paranoid.

Internal Character Depth

2. Psycho Janitor

Secret: He set up living quarters in a storage room. He knows
his way around the building.
Subtext: He thinks this is the nurse who tried to ‘hurt’ him
with a needle. </div><div>

Layers: He carries a knife. He’s paranoid, thinks people want
to kill him.

Character to character

Conflict: He’s paranoid of nurses. He becomes angry, has an
explosive temper. </div>

Conspiracy: He has an agreement with the hospital administer to
live in the storage room as long as he spies on the workers.

[Cindi LeRoy]

Lesson 3 – Cindi’s Right Characters!

What I learned doing this assignment: It’s important to design the main character to deliver on the concept and the conflict.

1. Concept Hook and Contained Setting: A nurse works alone overnight in an old psychiatric hospital. She realizes that she’s not alone when she runs into the psycho janitor. The psycho janitor thinks he’s alone, he’s doing something shady. Contained Setting: A rundown old psychiatric hospital located at the edge of a small desolate town; all rooms, wings, hallways are locked and require keys or a security pass to enter.

2. How the characters will uniquely fit with the hook: They both don’t want each other to be in the building.

3. How does each character enhance/cause the conflict: The nurse has to trust the psycho janitor since he is the only one with the keys, or she has to find a way to get the keys away from him. The psycho janitor is paranoid and thinks the nurse wants to kill him.

4. What makes these characters right for this story? They are both stuck with each other in the building and they both have their own agenda as to how to get rid of each other.

[Cindi LeRoy]

LESSON 2 – ASSIGNMENT

Subject line: Cindi’s Great Hook!

Answer the question: How did this process work for you? It worked well. Interesting how ideas can spin off into new ideas if you keep an open mind. What did you learn doing this assignment? I followed the advice to assume you will find the solution now or at some point. I had an idea and overnight I let my mind mull it over. In the morning my idea was crystal clear. So my solution came quicker than I realized it would.

[Cindi LeRoy]

Cindi’s Guidelines for EVERYTHING MUST GO

What I learned doing this assignment: Many features of a movie can be eliminated without changing the original concept. Even though this movie was produced in 2010, it was already pretty well contained. The movie took place over a period of approx. five days and the setting took place mostly with the main character living in his front yard.

Assignment 1

My ideas could work well in a contained area. The idea can be stated in a logline. I’m still tweaking the uniqueness aspect.

Assignment 2

TITLE: EVERYTHING MUST GO

AS THEY DID IT:

A. People: Mostly only the main character with a few brief interactions with the neighbors.

B. Stunts: none

C. Extras: only a handful at a rummage sale.

D. Wardrobe: nothing special, everyday casual, even sloppy clothes.

E. Hair and Make Up: nothing special, minimal, everyday casual look.

F. Kids and Animals: 1 kid about 14-15 years old, mostly riding his bike. Several koi in a pond. (I noticed in the credits they listed an animal wrangler for the fish!)

COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:

A. People: Instead of having face to face conversations with the neighbors, the neighbors could yell to each other from their own yards. Or make paper airplanes with notes and shoot them back and forth. It’s a comedy/drama so anything creative would be fine.

B. Stunts: none

C. Extras: they are essential to the outdoor rummage sale, but they could be spaced out more. Or they could even gawk from the street or from inside their cars.

D. Wardrobe: People could bring/wear their own clothes.

E. Hair and Make Up: People could buy their own makeup and do their own hair.

F. Kids and Animals: they could eliminate the koi pond, it wasn’t necessary. The kid was essential, he was old enough to behave, he was only in a few scenes. If they needed to replace him, they could use a young looking 18 or 19 year old without any issues to the movie.

[Cindi LeRoy]

AGREE, in which case, you Reply to this topic and include three things at the top of the page:

1. Your name. Cindi LeRoy

2. The words “I agree to the terms of this release form.”

3. Please leave the entire text below to confirm what you agree to.

GROUP RELEASE FORM

As a member of this group, I agree to the following:

1. That I will keep the processes, strategies, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class confidential, and that I will NOT share any of this program either privately, with a group, posting online, writing articles, through video or computer programming, or in any other way that would make those processes, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class available to anyone who is not a member of this class.

2. That each writer’s work here is copyrighted and that writer is the sole owner of that work. That includes this program which is copyrighted by Hal Croasmun. I acknowledge that submission of an idea to this group constitutes a claim of and the recognition of ownership of that idea.

I will keep the other writer’s ideas and writing confidential and will not share this information with anyone without the express written permission of the writer/owner. I will not market or even discuss this information with anyone outside this group.

3. I also understand that many stories and ideas are similar and/or have common themes and from time to time, two or more people can independently and simultaneously generate the same concept or movie idea.

4. If I have an idea that is the same as or very similar to another group member’s idea, I’ll immediately contact Hal and present proof that I had this idea prior to the beginning of the class. If Hal deems them to be the same idea or close enough to cause harm to either party, he’ll request both parties to present another concept for the class.

5. If you don’t present proof to Hal that you have the same idea as another person, you agree that all ideas presented to this group are the sole ownership of the person who presented them and you will not write or market another group member’s ideas.

6. Finally, I agree not to bring suit against anyone in this group for any reason, unless they use a substantial portion of my copyrighted work in a manner that is public and/or that prevents me from marketing my script by shopping it to production companies, agents, managers, actors, networks, studios or any other entertainment industry organizations or people.

This completes the Group Release Form for the class.

[Cindi LeRoy]

Tell us the following:

1. Name: Cindi LeRoy

2. How many scripts you’ve written: 3 features

3. What you hope to get out of the class: Want to learn to write an awesome contained script.

4. Something unique, special, strange or unusual about you: I’m a magnet for books. I have more books than I could read in a lifetime.